Play and learning

Play is the primary mechanism through which young children learn about the world.

Increasingly early education in Ireland has been moving towards a play-based

pedagogy;23 however, much of the child’s early play will take place within the home

environment. In the consultations with expert stakeholders, ‘risky play’ was

identified as an emerging area that is understudied – and is discussed separately as a

new subtopic later in this chapter. The more conventional aspects of play, which

have previously featured in Growing Up in Ireland surveys, are discussed in the

following paragraphs.

In the parent consultations, there were multiple references to how much 3-year-olds

enjoyed playing outside. For both Cohort 24 at 9 months and Cohort 08 at 3 years,

there is a question on whether the household has access to an outdoor space.

However, given the parent reflections, it would be useful to expand this item with

23 https://www.aistearsiolta.ie/en/play/

one or two follow-up questions on how often they use the outdoor space – and, if

not frequently used, why not.

The ‘parent play’ questionnaire as used with Cohort 24 at 9 months is only suitable

up to age 2.5 years (Ahmadzadeh et al., 2020) and so is unlikely to be suitable to

repeat at age 3. The questions used with Cohort 08 at age 3 were more oriented

towards home-learning: how often someone at home did activities such as painting,

singing, and reading with the child. These items could usefully be repeated with

Cohort 24 at 3 with the added benefit of cross-cohort comparison potential.

This still leaves something of a gap in understanding of how the child engages in free

play. There was a single question for Cohort 08 at 3 on whether the child typically

preferred active pastimes (e.g. kicking a ball), inactive play with toys or both kinds of

play; however, a more detailed set of items on types of play would be more useful –

to include pretend play, play with toys, dancing, sport etc.

In the consultation with parents, there were several mentions of the 3-year-old

starting to engage in organised activities, such as sport. There was also reference to

how much these activities cost. Therefore, it is recommended that the survey for

Cohort 24 at 3 pilot some questions on participation in organised activities, similar to

those used with previous cohorts at older ages. The pilot could then inform a decision

on whether to include this subtopic in the main data collection.

There was a three-part item on the Cohort 24 at 9 months survey about the number

of (a) soft toys/dolls, (b) activity toys and (c) books available to the infant. In relation

to books, it would be preferable for age 3 to switch to the question wording used

with Cohort 08 at 3 and most other Growing Up in Ireland waves. This question

referred to how many children’s books the child had access to in the home, including

library books. The answer options were bundled into categories of ‘none’, ‘less than

10’ etc. As to whether it would be useful to continue the items on the specific

number of soft toys and activity toys in the home from Cohort 24 at 9 months, this

would require an analysis of the responses from that survey. It may be that the

specific number of toys is less important than having at least some, and it may turn

out that there are very few (or even no) households where toys of either type are

completely absent by the time the child is aged 3.

It should be sufficient to record the details on play and home-learning activities from

the primary caregiver, although it could be interesting to include one or two items for

the other resident parent along the lines of how, and how often, they play with the 3-

year-old.

Cohort 08 at 3 included three items on screen-time, specifically watching television.

As the digital context has expanded exponentially since 2011, the topic of screen-

time is dealt with as a new topic later in this chapter.

Recommendations for Cohort 24 at 3 years

•Repeat the question on access to outdoor space, from Cohort 24 at 9 months and Cohort 08 at 3, and extend it to ask about frequency of use or reasons for not using it

•Repeat parent-reported items on home-learning activities as used with Cohort 08 at 3

•Add the single item on number of children’s books in the home, also used with Cohort 08 at 3

•Add new item(s) to capture more detail on what play activities the 3-year-old prefers when engaging in free play (to replace the somewhat limited question used with Cohort 08 at 3)

•Explore the data on number of soft toys and activity toys from Cohort 24 at 9 months to inform a decision on their likely usefulness at age 3; it may be that an alternative item on the child’s free play preferences – as noted above – may be more useful

•Expand sections on risky play and screen-time, as discussed under ‘new topics’ later in this chapter

Childcare